Carl Mesner Lyons
Thinking out loud on brand strategy, positioning and marketing leadership — from 20+ years working with startups and some of the UK's biggest names.
We need a new word to substitute for 'thinking' (which implies a rational and consciously-processes act). Most of the time we're running on heuristics, yet when marketers (and others) say…
I'm no longer going to worry if home videos I take are too dark, or if photos are out of focus or badly framed. I'll keep all of them. Such…
I listen to a lot of podcasts & audio stuff and then tell you which ones are good. NEW - audio books of the month OK, so I’m bending the…
Your photos are the likely to be the most precious digital assets you own. They’re special and you can’t replace them. But how many people lose them each year? A…
I listen to a lot of podcasts so you don't have to. Download these for the long drive to the relatives this Christmas. Podcast of the month - Crime Town…
If the endless news stories about people and companies being hacked makes you go "la la la not listening" then you probably need to pay more attention to staying safe…
I listen to a lot of podcasts so you don't have to. Each month I'll share the best episodes. If you're new to Podcasts, I'd recommend Overcast for the iPhone.…
I run a small consultancy business called Cloud CMO. I help multiple clients in growth and change companies to manage their marketing strategy. Naturally, I want to spend more time…
I listen to a lot of podcasts so you don't have to. Each month I'll share the best episodes. If you're new to Podcasts, I'd recommend Overcast for the iPhone.…
I love David Lynch's view on being open to ideas. I'm reminded of an interview I heard where a writer recounted that he lived upwind from a more successful author…
I listen to a lot of podcasts so you don't have to. Each month I'll share the best episodes. If you're new to Podcasts, I'd recommend Overcast for the iPhone.…
Phil Schiller got a bit of criticism for using the word courage to describe why Apple got rid of the headphone port. It's been received by some as a bit…
Neat of Apple to 'leak' the WWDC dates exclusively via Siri.
Idea: traffic for transit apps. Wouldn’t it be great if the likes of Citymapper could give you not only the route options for how to get from A to B,…
Phil Collins reshot all his old album covers. Great way to get publicity for something as routine as a reissue.
I've just ordered a fully tricked-out iMac 5k. It's going to be awesome. It's quite pricey, but it's a business purchase and I think I'll get five years out of…
Here are my podcast subscriptions. What else should I be listening to?
My friend Cliff pointed out this cartoon from the New Yorker. It's very funny, but the humour comes from wondering why people buy vinyl when it is more expensive and…
There’s an old zen tale that goes like this: “..There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who…
A brilliant, readable and humbling guide to the way our brains work. And the ways they don't.
Don't read this if you've not seen the final episode. I've just finished watching the finale and what an unexpected finish. But yet it all makes perfect sense and we'd…
We didn’t have tech culture magazines back in the 80s. There were things like Computer Shopper and probably Tandy catalogues, but, with perhaps the exception of nascent video game mags,…
Always bang on the money From Confessions of an Advertising Man. 1962
Bob Dylan, speaking at Musicares> Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, "Well that's very kind of you, but voices ought not to be…
A guy wakes up one Sunday morning to find the kitchen flooded. Water is spurting everywhere and things are getting ruined. He tracks down a plumber who arrives to a…
Read My Lips - Why Politicians Speak the Way They Do - terrific podcast covering the power of words to influence. I particularly liked how the speech consultant improved on…
I totally love (and belive in) this: Asked about where he gets the big ideas of his campaigns, he replied that "big ideas in all fields come from only one…
Pleased to see that one of the first, and still one of the best, crowdsourced twitter memes is still active
A Whatsapp client for Mac The Instagram app to allow multiple accounts Twitter to let good developers use the APIs again (we love Tweetbot) Apple Messages to play properly with…
Stuff you knew you needed to know... and stuff you didn'tWhat colour is it? Specific colours are described by hex numbers. This is a neat way to catalogue 16.7m possibilities…
Stuff you knew you needed to know... and stuff you didn'tIt's probably testament to the dangers of pride, but aren't we often told how wonderful English is, how rich it…
Blockchain is looking like a seriously transformative technology - maybe as big an idea as http or bittorrent. Here’s a great primer. It looks techy, but is very readable. Sample…
Stuff you knew you needed to know Unfeasibly, there are people still watching Gangnam Style. So many in fact, that YouTube have had to update their view counter to 64…
Stuff you knew you needed to knowAbout 10 years after the term was coined, are podcasts entering a golden age? Certainly, intelligent content is no longer the preserve of the…
Thanks for the overlay, EE - I’d never have worked out what those buttons did!
Brilliant in-app purchase. What a game.
Stuff you knew you needed to know Hotel California has been found in Cupertino. Sir Jony Ive revealed that the design team at Apple is a suitably minimalist 18 people.…
This is the first of my weekly-ish newsletter. Please sign up here and let me know what you think. Would love feedback. Stuff you knew you needed to know Twitter…
There's an excellent interview in the FT Weekend requires registration, but worth it with restaurateur Jeremy King. He's about to open his first hotel, and during the interview he displays…
One of my favourite podcasts is Radio 5's Sportsweek. It's broadcast at 9am on Sunday just as I'm walking the dog so I usually listen to it across the week…
On my cycle home, I pass one of the locations for Chelsea Fringe every evening and have been meaning to post about it. Chelsea Fringe - what a great idea.…
Nice playful packaging by Tyrrells for Virgin Atlantic
Some good slides and links here, so worth a read, though I wonder what's really new. Whatever, it's a groovily-branded (growth hacking! lean marketing!) reminder to have a rounded product/marketing…
c. 2001/2. Has anyone got a larger version of this?
Nice iconoclasm from John Willshire Fracking The Social Web - 2014 from John V Willshire
What's really accelerating change now is not hardware, but software. It's easier than ever to stack cloud services together, Lego style, to build and power a business. Thanks Jon Davie…
An awful lot gets labelled as social media. And irrespective of the words used, It seems any new way of communicating is bundled together as all the same sort of…
Ray Bradbury on the power of intuition I’ve had a sign over my typewriter for over 25 years now, which reads “Don’t think!” You must never think at the typewriter…
Digging through some old files I've found these four posters I commissioned for lastminute.com through M&C Saatchi/Immediate Sales. They're not my favourites but they're the only surviving ones I have.…
The speech that echoed around the TV industry worldwide. Some great wakeup quotes.
Netflix's company culture Culture from Reed Hastings
It's good to know what benefits your product offers, but really powerful brands have a purpose - a point of view on how they believe the world should be. This…
Some eye-popping slides here Via Ben Evans 2013 05 BEA - ’Mobile is eating the World’ from Benedict Evans
If you're wondering whether you're in the right role, watch this fantastic talk
Great interview with Ed Catmull, President of Pixar outlining some of the practical, tough ways they manage the creative process. There are some excellent insights into how to manage creative…
...and the world changes and keeps evolving. And new potential arises, but these people who are settled in don't see it. Steve Jobs Interview Computer World from Tim Sparke on…
Announcing the news of Ferguson's retirement on Twitter was not only surprisingly modern, but by seeding the hashtag thankyousiralex, they also took control of the news' reception - the story…
I mean, what's taking them so long?
I just set up Fever. It's a self-hosted alternative to the doomed Google Reader that syncs via your own server. It's pretty painless to import your existing feeds and there…
If you were advising Ed Balls on how to handle the gloriously silly, utterly pointless and very British Ed Balls meme, what would you tell him? If he were to…
Funny and memorable, if puerile.
Brilliant from the Guardian
I'm not the biggest fan of Ted talks, but this one struck a chord. It reminded me of this classic John Cleese talk on creativity as it is discusses how…
It's snowy in London. Like everyone else, I pass homeless people with a feeling of helplessness. I've heard that giving 'spare change' is not advised, but feel saddened to do…
This is supposedly the obvious risk-taker of the new set of George Orwell editions, but it's certainly the one that people will (double) speak about.
Read this site peeping through head in hands. God forgive me if I'd ever make this list, but I can certainly imagine every single one being said.
I've read articles about the classic FedEx logo before, but this interview with the design team about the power of negative whitespace is worth a look. The key to success…
This article makes the rather spiky point that 'remembering your first computer is for old people'. i.e. that for the generation growing up now, there's nothing revolutionary about how thin…
Great line from Apple's Jonathan Ive on the role (or not) of research in product development: “we don’t do market research,” because “it will guarantee mediocrity and will only work…
I loved the Olympic opening ceremony. For the first time, here was a major event that spoke to me and actually felt like the modern Britain I know and the…
I love how O2 dealt with the social media backlash whilst their service was down yesterday
Minimally Minimal have an interesting branding thinkpiece re-imagining Microsoft as cool. I don't like everything they've done in the execution, but the idea is thought-provoking. They've been the naff whipping…
Rather than mimicking Apple's "gorgeous" style of demoing products (as Facebook and Microsoft do), Google yesterday played to their geek strengths and raised the bar sky high. Google Glass could…
The story behind Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner is one of the most popular posts I've written here, so I was pleased to discover this 'making of' trade video…
To Tim Berners-Lee, "Anything else?" Hat Tip to Nik Goodman
There are some sobering lessons in this excellent Gizmodo article, How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet. Extracts that stood out for me: - It is a case study…
Not really of course, but it's a pretty good gag and will play well amongst the early adopter/geeky market who may feel they've lost the brand to new owners Facebook…
This splendid video for the Dollar Shave Club has lathered itself all over the chin of the internet and it's offering a serious disruption to a high-margin sector. Note: -…
Brilliant. Hat tip to Nupur Manchanda via Michelle Tilly Lonsdale
A quite wonderful lecture from John Cleese on creativity that really ought to be seen and shared. It validates and articulates pretty much everything that I have stumbled on after…
What a great way to launch a TV channel
Good read from the Economist re Jeff Bezos' approach to risk-taking. For me, this is the key moment and is the very essence of why traditionally successful companies are so…
Nice touch: personalised notebooks at today's Think Google event. No big "come and get yours" sign, but subtle self discovery. I was the first person to arrive and it took…
Just read an enjoyable article about John Peel's producer and general wit John Walters. He spent many years bringing interesting, new arts to the masses, best summed up in his…
It's funny because it's true See the full article/comic here
Some great examples of get-noticed thinking listed here
Brands don't usually die because of some apocalyptic event/mistake (though it can happen), rather they suffer death by a thousand cuts, each of which seem innocuos enough, even sensible. But…
There have been two incidents recently, "big man" and the "tram rant", where a member of the public has videoed a disturbance of sorts and it ending up being seen…
This is very funny and brilliant viral marketing for the Quiet Room. I particularly enjoyed their concern that Hagrid is entering Santa's reputational space.
I was brand manager at the Guardian when the "Guardian Unlimited" websites were launched in the 90s. As part of the launch, I was tasked with creating a CD-ROM called…
My money is on this being the decade of disintermediation. The technology, trust and social graph is now in place to allow people to deal directly with each other and…
There are many photo editing apps and many offer some kind of sharing. Yet Instagram (see my previous post) is way ahead of the pack in popularity and buzz. This…
When I got two copies of this CD through the post, I groaned. Not because I had been a doofus in ordering twice, but because returning items is usually so…
Great quote from the Kennedys TV drama. JFK hasn't been in the job long when he laments the reality of his role to Jackie: I’m starting to realize that this…
Interesting observation from the ever-readable Noel Gallagher in this month's Word magazine. He postulates his theory that Oasis benefitted from a time when it took tangible effort from fans to…
Encouraging parallel conversations during live events has been gathering pace recently. The Guardian have long had much success with their interactive minute-by-minute coverage of sport, and more recently live rolling…
Like everyone else, I've been beguiled by the unfolding hacking drama at News International. It's been well discussed that it took the confluence of tenacious, brilliant reporting from the Guardian…
Fun and very well-made Greenpeace video attacking VW, but the comments are mixed at best, with many commenters suggesting they picked the wrong target. edit looks like George Lucas didn't…
I've said before that one of my favourite tricks in developing new products is simply to break one rule – take a successful formula and change just one thing. Instagr.am…
Via
After the hoopla of WWDC, it's an interesting counterpoint to see Steve Jobs in a more regular business presentation - this one to the local Cupertino council about their proposed…
Well this is audacious. Their explanation says it all This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a "dying city." We disagreed strongly,…
Amazing story of how someone tracked down the thief of his laptop and posted its webcam pictures for everyone to see. It's fantastic publicity for the tracking software used, Hidden.…
This comment by a user of Metafilter commenting on commercially-led changes to Digg made me stop and think in its directness. It's a great insight and updates "there's no such…
Next day the posters appeared in due course, and the public were informed, in all the colours of the rainbow, and in letters afflicted with every possible variation of spinal…
All great ads have a clear insight and planning idea behind them. This french ad for Kronenbourg 1664 is all about slowing down with a beer, and the Motorhead execution…
People don't like ads interrupting their viewing, and adverts that aren't relevant to particular viewers (or skipped) don't work. Step forward MirriAd - a neat way of allowing product placement…
Fascinating post from former design chief at Nokia, laying bare his frustrations at innovating in a mega corporation. Alongside some eye-popping comments, this stood out as something to be wary…
There's no Dislike button, it's tricky to block people and there's no option to Reject event invites (you can only Ignore them). It's all terribly inoffensive. And that's a key…
For anyone interested in keeping up with mobile (that should be everyone, right?), I recommend signing up to the Mobile Fix from Addictive - a smart new mobile agency. This…
When you make a movie, always try to discover what the theme of the movie is in one or two words. Every time I made a film, I always knew…
One of the more unusual projects I've had to manage was the transformation of a classic (but battered) Routemaster bus into a fully-functioning mobile studio for outside broadcasts. In late…
New wireless power technology will allow packaging to light up in an eye-catching way. Whilst this will no doubt get annoying quite quickly, you can imagine retailers being keen to…
It's funny because it's true /via @RobManuel
The most popular posts on talkablelikeable in 2010, in exciting reverse order The social web just got go-faster stripes The introduction of easily-added 'Like' buttons to the web A glimpse…
This is wild Imagine when this technology is built into car windscreens or even contact lenses
This list of Dieter Rams design principles is eternal. I expect that the work of Apple's Jonathan Ive would stand up well to this test. Picture the iMac/iPod/iPhone as you…
I wrote about Danny MacAskill and his amazing bike skills 18 months ago. At the time I speculated that had that video been an "ad for a sports brand, or…
One liner - get your mobile strategy sorted
Fabulous campaign for Movember. See if you can guess the words before you open each pic. gallery link="file" Source: Ads of the world
Nice transmedia support for Mad Men. reissued by Grove Press after being out of print for 45 years Via BoingBoing
I know it's clinical old CRM, but it still made me feel good that O2 sent me a surprise bar of chocolate
Miso is kinda like Foursquare for TV - you check-in to programmes you're watching. It might be easy to dismiss Miso as derivative, but I think it's got a good…
...but they need to avoid news feed pollution. It was already pretty grating seeing too many Foursquare check-ins. Now that's going to step up another order of magnitude.
Seriously?? For stunts like this to resonate and become positive social currency, they have to hit a nerve and contain a grain of truth. No-one believes Redmond will make a…
This collaboration between Google and Arcade Fire to show off HTML5 is amazing. Be sure to choose your childhood postcode.
I've been clearing out some boxes from the spare room and found this cutting from Campaign magazine, July 28 1995. It features a profile of the 27 year old me…
Bang on the money guerrilla marketing. link via the next web
This extraordinary ad/short film from Diageo makes for compelling viewing. Aside from the green screen magic (presumably?) and great choice of actor in Robert Carlyle, it is notable for two…
I've just uploaded these two collections of The Guardian's TV ads that cover the 80s and 90s. The first set pre-dated my time as Brand Manager, but I was responsible…
Next time you’re in the queue at Starbucks or Tesco, watch people. If it doesn’t look like they’ll get served in the next few seconds, chances are they’ll start prodding…
Like most people, I get much unsolicited email inviting me to a wide range of dreary sounding events, so it was a pleasant surprise to receive something that actually made…
The Man with the Guinness was the campaign name for the now legendary series of ads for the black stuff that ran from 1987 to 1994. I joined the Guinness…
If Carlsberg are behind this, then full respect for speed and creativity. If they didn't, then credit is still due to them as a testamant to the power of their…
The iPad is a gorgeous media consumption device. It's desirable, it's selling like hotcakes and buying apps is easy. Print media owners shackled by declining sales can be forgiven for…
I've mentioned before a couple of examples where big companies have failed to understand internet culture and ended up paying the price. Usually in these cases, there is a web-savvy…
The 90s brought Appointment TV - the hyping of TV schedules to create must-watch TV moments such as Friends, 9pm on Channel 4. The ensuing conversations in offices the morning…
Surely the most talkable Google Doodle for a while? A fully playable pacman, even with "Insert coin" button for two player mode! I wrote last year about how staying likeable…
If each year of the noughties were never quite the year of mobile, it's surely a safe bet that the tens/teens will be the decade of mobile. Serious analysts like…
I've been lucky enough to have an iPad for about three weeks (a rarity in the UK), and if you're thinking about getting one, here are my thoughts so far.…
When it's easy even for non-techies like me to add social plug-ins to websites, we better get ready for an explosion of 'Like' buttons, activity streams and friend recommendations all…
When I heard that Apple had bought a mobile ad company, I was quite surprised - it seemed a bit run of the mill for a 'magical' brand like theirs.…
Spoofing 'missing' posters might be a touch questionable, but this ad for Twin Peaks certainly made me look twice
Way to get noticed Via Boing Boing
Fabulous.
What a brilliantly risque way to promote a restaurant specialising in business lunches - a tongue-in-cheek microsite that creates credible fake receipts to the value of the extravagant meal you're…
This funny-but-sadly-true image has been widely shared this week. Unskippable segments on DVD are the ugliest form of interruption advertising. It's never OK to deliberately give your customers a bad…
LOLs all round for the Old Spice 2010 Super Bowl ad. Much kudos for the knowing, witty and likeable execution And you gotta love that payoff.
Graham Linehan, writer of Father Ted, Black Books and Father Ted is not only a funny fella, but also a seasoned whizz at social media. Ahead of the filming of…
The biggest mistake a technology company can make is to think that they're a technology company. It leads to the mistaken belief that better tech spec means better product means…
I don't want Coke to sell me a toaster. And I don't want Google to be my social platform. Just because you're big doesn't mean you can win at anything…
This is a great insider's-view article on how Microsoft lost its creative and innovative spark. Internal competition is common at great companies. It can be wisely encouraged to force ideas…
fake steve labelled this "How our NLP embedding works". Lol!
Lovely example of how to take a commodity service and make it talkable/likeable
Reported on Gadling, this is the very essence of talkable, likeable. Beds in economy. Oh yes. As Kathryn Gregory, director of marketing for the Americas region recently said, "We like…
Steve Jobs on Apple's brand values edit via 9t05mac
Most holiday advertising gets no more sophisticated than showing sun-soaked beaches with a cocktail in near focus. Which is why it's nice to see The Body Holiday. Their proposition is…
This is a great article on the origins of Pop Idol. It's interesting enough given the TV format dynasty it's spawned, but what really caught my eye was this line:…
With rumour and excitement around Apple's newest creation hitting fever pitch, I'm reminded of this fabulous article from 2003 which recalls Steve Jobs views on the Segway scooter prototype. It…
I've said before that it's better to be brilliant than say you're brilliant. Here's a great way to showcase your coffee store by providing a beautifully shot 'how to' video.…
Rumours abound about the name for the (apparently) forthcoming Apple tablet. iSlate? iReview? The romantic in me still thinks reclaiming Newton would be the daring move.
Shameless plug alert I'm quite proud of these two iPhone app projects that I've been part of. So far they appear to be doing pretty well. I genuinely recommend them…
I wrote a piece back in May saying that people would pay for content if it was made easy. The Guardian have just launched their iPhone app - priced at…
Lovely low-cost marketing for a hair loss product. From JWT in Hong Kong.
Opinion appears divided on this campaign for an anti-landmine organisation. Rip the sachet and red spills out of the leg. I'm not usually a fan of shock tactics for charities…
Here are the 10 most read posts on Talkable Likeable in 2009 (I'm trying to beat the Xmas rush.) Strike-through cut-through - lovely poster from the ever-reliable VW Hey you,…
Rumours abound that Murdoch and Microsoft might team up to make Bing the only place where News International content can be found in search. As a stick to wield at…
Spotted in Soho, promoting the new Star Trek DVD - get yourself a Spock haircut
Punchy example of the power of facebook connect. Check it out
Launching Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 2 in Leicester Square was a terrific PR move. Games are the new movies and this was great example of thinking big
A friend of mine who works at a respectable FMCG company was recently trying to find a solution for collaborative working on an international project. He'd heard that Basecamp was…
Microsoft often comes across as unlovable, but back in the early 90s they were a much more likeable company. In particular, Office bundled together a suite of applications that actually…
Far better to ask - will they pay for my brand? Are you thinking hard enough about what you really provide to them - rationally and emotionally? Is it really…
Quite rightly, forward-thinking brands are connecting with their audiences via facebook fan pages. It's a readymade network of peer groups and allows saliency and reputation to be built. It's a…
This provocative Tweet from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh made me stop and think. Should we aim instead to communicate minimum standards of practice within our businesses?
Googling for information on the (apparently fabulous) Bold Tendencies III exhibition in Peckham, I stumbled on the Londonist's website. All routine stuff, but note the polite, likeable way they sniffed…
The task when launching media products is clear: get noticed, generate trial. In True Blood, the FX channel have got an awesome property. Now in its second season on HBO,…
The 2012 motif will be much used in London over the next few years. This is a nice, noticeable flip on the idea
via ads of the world
Nice post by Jason Calacanis on how to get impact without interruption I heartily agree with his view: The future of advertising is making and featuring compelling content with modest,…
It's easier than ever to get a PR announcement out there. And easier than ever to cock it up. A year or two ago, I had a chunky piece of…
It's smart of Pret to offer free wi-fi, but it's smarter still to puncture the dryness of the message with witty, on-brand support copy
Too often mission statements are glib, interchangeable and soaked with avarice. Businesses might as well use a website to generate one. Great ones are simple, positive and rally everyone behind…
This is what can happen when companies take the heavy option in dealing with PR situations on the web. Reputation management in the internet era requires a more subtle approach.…
You've surely seen the story of the musician with a beef against United Airlines for damaging his guitar. Being dissatisfied with their response to the incident, he wrote a song…
A better way to promote your agency's abilities: make something blinding that begs the question "who made that!?"
How to make a virtue out of a potential negative
Of all the TV ads I've been involved in, I'm probably most proud of the launch campaign for the Johnny Vaughan breakfast show. James Cridland was kind enough to rate…
Lovely knowing poster from VW. Makes everyone feel smart.
I'm full of admiration for the Guardian's smart harnessing of community to wade through the masses of MPs' expenses documents. Very talkable and very likeable.
The new 3.0 software brings new commercialisation options to the iPhone, and I've been thinking of a simple way to summarise them:
LinkedIn appears to have cornered the professional social network market with admirably clear positioning and a genuinely useful site. But I believe they could do even better: 1. Become the…
So you're a.n.other actor wanting to be famous, and you get a minor part in a major show. Is it possible to use that fleeting moment to market yourself globally?…
Way back in 1994, I was Assistant Brand Manager on Draught Guinness. I was dutifully learning the blue-chip marketing ropes, but really far more captivated by this fledgling thing we…
Boing Boing reports that, due to legal issues with his label, Danger Mouse is to release: a blank CD-R in a jewel case with art and liner notes. Fans can…
The web is awash with reaction to Rupert Murdoch's plans to charge for newspaper content online. Is he a rare voice of reason or does he just not get it?…
Want to attract the best talent to your company? Releasing videos like this is far more effective than running 'inspiring' posters in airport corridors The full 18 mins are worth…
The promoters of the new Star Trek movie hijacked the Lost opening credits to show the Enterprise warping through the logo. A brilliantly inventive and talkable use of media -…
Gotta love Google's home page today, themed for Samuel Morse's birthday. This playfulness is part of the reason why, despite their size, Google remain likeable.
The New York Times reports that TiVo is showing still ads to people fast-forwarding through the ad break - or pausing what they're watching. This is smart and in direct…
This video of Danny MacAskill doing bike stunts in Edinburgh is utterly jaw-dropping. Had it been a cinema ad for a sports brand, or an energy drink, it would have…
I imagine there will be much cooing over this new Honda ad. Reminds me a bit of this marvellous piece of lo-fi fun from a few years ago:
I wonder whether the jailing of the Pirate Bay founders will actually have the unintended effect of increasing file sharing? Suppressing things there is a huge market for rarely works…
Spotted on 37 Signals
So Coke have bought c. 20% of Innocent drinks. There's a feisty bit of feedback on the Innocent blog with many comments being negative, eg. You thought wrong - you…
Nicholas Carr has an excellent article on how the internet, rather than removing middlemen, has spawned a mega-middleman in the form of Google. For much of the first decade of…
What do you do when you've got great brand heritage but the times are changing? Re-imagine, re-introduce or remix your product. Trainer companies have long found new ways to benefit…
In the early 2000s I was on a conference panel in Cambridge. A discussion began about the growing threat of spam with the the prevailing argument being "At this rate,…
If you're a regular reader of RSS feeds, you'll know they're the easiest way to enjoy a sumptuous spread of blogs. And though I rarely visit my favourite websites, I…
I've mentioned before how Nine Inch Nails are heading the pack for bands (and brands) in turning forces usually seen as disruptive to their advantage. Well, they're at it again.…
Google's amazing Street View coming to the UK is impressive enough, but you gotta love the little touches to make it even more talkable - as the BBC report: hidden…
I was doodling around this morning looking at slo-mo camera geekery when I stumbled upon this extraordinary bit of film, shot at 5,000+ frames per second: Having seen this on…
Publicity for the Watchmen movie is in full swing. I enjoyed the spoof news wrap around Metro this morning, but even more the free sheet of blood-splattered smiley stickers I…
Businesses are all getting to grips with the sensitive and tricky task of dealing with the wonderful world of bloggers. Most companies are extremely careful to be respectful of this…
As Twitter is invaded by the masses and loses its cool, experienced users are parading their know-how by littering tweets with increasingly arcane codes: RT for re-tweet of course, L:…
Is there nowhere the Top Gear brand can't go? Full marks for lateral opportunism and carrying through their trademark irreverent wit
In a previous post, I discussed how switched-on stars are using social media to side-step unwanted spin. Today, TheNextWeb have a revealing story(and market themselves directly to their fans) showing…
When the 800lb gorilla in your market brings out a product close to yours, it's gonna hurt. Especially when theirs is free. Which is why I admire Spanning Sync. They're…
As Britain gets giddy with it's once-a-decade proper snowfall, it's nice to see enterprising brands having fun and creating free marketing. Here's a snow sofa (or 'snofa') created by mydeco…
Looks like this joke from the IT Crowd kinda came true today when Google flagged the whole internet as badware
I recently found two pieces of viral marketing that I commissioned at lastminute.com around 2002/2003. The Office Flirt Test The idea was to mash up the Excel-based quizzes doing the…
Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry hesitantly introducing Twitter to five million Brits will surely lead to more companies taking the leap into social media. And no-one will care. Simply 'being…
Placed in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, Jan 21. Thanks to David Beath for the heads up.
In the same way there's rarely a time when a flat tyre wouldn't be inconvenient, it's rarely true that "now is a good time to speak" when an agency cold…
I sometimes hesitate to bang on about how revolutionary Twitter is as a communications platform. It's almost becoming a cliche, and lauding 140 characters of plain text can come across…
January is awash with health and fitness products, often poorly differentiated, and all seemingly promising "new year, new you". Yawn. So praise be to gymbox for thinking harder and achieving…
With the best product pun since Salt 'n' Lineker, Ben & Jerry's have scored some great pre-inauguration PR by renaming their Butter Pecan line to Yes Pecan - highly talkable…
A-list evidence of the mainstreaming of social media marketing: Britney Spears' people are looking for someone to manage her presence on Twitter, Facebook et al This is no gimmick -…
Contrary, social media savvy marketing from Burger King. De-friend 10 people on Facebook and get a Whopper
Matt Mason has a great post today noting that Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I-IV was Amazon’s best-selling album of 2008 - despite also being available as a free download. Sampling…
It really wasn't so long ago (mid 1990s?) that marketing managers had notes typed up by secretaries as memos, then signed and dropped them into the internal post to be…
More than any downturn before, there are readily-available opportunities for savvy marketers to use new tools and techniques to gain a relative advantage. For example: - have conversations with your…
The end-of-year pundits are united in their gloom: 2008 has been awful, but 2009 is going to be worse. Given this prognosis, it's only natural for marketers to bury their…